HOME | DD

Description
(PIC IS MY WORK. PLEASE ASK PERMISSION BEFORE USING)

Name: Gray Lady Marianne Denise Canterbury, Second Duchess of Warwickshire
DOB: 10 November 1884

Height: 6’3.5”
Weight: 195lb
Hair: Dark blonde
Eyes: Green

Current Residence: Warwick, England

Branch of Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Rear Admiral
Command: HMS Dreadnought

Personality: A calm woman surging like a fire within, she's not as brash as many of her contemporaries. However, that does not diminish her will to fight even when she's outgunned. Being the representative of a turning point in naval development as a whole and a symbol of Britain's might, there's ample reason this fearless lady is referred to as the "Mother Mary" of modern warships.

Bio: Marianne was born on November 10, 1884 to the Duke of Warwickshire, the iron-hearted William Andrew Canterbury and his wife Cassandra. Though Mary was the younger sister to William’s son Samuel, by grandmother Victoria’s decree Marianne was next in line for the duchy. As such, the young lady’s upbringing was toward becoming a high-standing woman of the Royal Court. However, inspired by grandmother’s stories Mary’s desires turned for exploring the world’s great expanses of ocean. Days of training to behave properly before the empire’s sovereign were punctuated with long nights of studying various journeys of sailors braving nigh-impossible odds, of monsters terrifying beyond imagination, and of treasures greater than the wealth of any king alive. Marianne’s want of the sea grew with the passing years, and she longed for the chance to escape her stifling lifestyle. But little would she know, that chance would come sooner than she expected.

February 10, 1906.

While on holiday with her father in HM Dockyard, Portsmouth, a great gray hulk of steel towered over Marianne. Its deep crimson belly was the only color on the whole thing, which looked completely foreign to the ships she’d seen in her books. In stark contrast with the wooden sailing ships she read about, this steel behemoth was sleek, strong, and fearsome. While her father was occupied with talking to the shipyard manager and several other important-looking men, she approached the steel hull and ran her hand along its cold, smooth surfaces. Rivets bumped up against her fingertips at regular intervals, each one with its own mark of the hammer that drove it in. The sheer magnitude of its size fascinated her, what a wondrous dream it would be to command such a vessel.
As she strode towards the ship’s peak, a shout rang up. The shoring timbers holding the beast were knocked away in unison and it sat motionless on soap- and tallow-slathered wooden blocks. A large glass bottle shattered against the bow, showering the hapless lady in wine. The hull began sliding backward on its own, straight for the waters of Hampshire. With a great heaving roar it slid off the way and rocked on its waves before settling level. Heavy chains snaked into the water behind the hull, dragging it to a standstill. The world’s first modern battleship, newly christened and ready for fitting-out, had been launched. Its name was “Dreadnought”.

William was none too happy his daughter had gotten herself in such a mess just to watch some new hull slide off into the water, but this was a tipping point. He had had enough of Marianne going against him at nearly every turn, ignoring his advice and lessons, and above all refusing his guidance to make her a proper lady. She tried explaining to him that all she wanted was to conquer the sea and have books written about her exploits, that she hated the idea of following a pre-laid path as opposed to charting her own course, as so many others had done already. Angered at Marianne’s supposed disobedience, the father gave her title to Samuel and banned her from the palace’s library - especially the navigation books - at which both Marianne and her grandmother took great offense.

Marianne had a closer connection to Victoria than William, being inspired by the grandmother’s tales of fiery combat against the Continental Navy, and especially the tale of fighting Charlotte “Old Ironsides” Plymouth off the coast of Maine. So, it came as no surprise that Marianne approached her gran to visit the ‘Dreadnought’, in the hope she could become its commander. Having disagreed with her son’s edict against Marianne becoming a seafarer, Victoria took her granddaughter to Portsmouth.

Dreadnought was almost completed when the pair arrived at the fitting-out wharf in November 1906, and were given a tour of the vessel. “Everything is to the modern standard,” their guide said. “All of the vital spaces in this ship have ample protection from anything that can be thrown at it, and without having to sacrifice on integrity, mobility or stability.”
Marianne was more than thrilled to tour the ship, and asked her grandma if they could take the ship for commissioning. The guide chuckled at this and said, “There’s still work left to do lass, but we’re set to bring her out to London for the 2nd of the coming month.”

That day saw the whole Canterbury family sail into London aboard the newest, fastest, and strongest battleship ever built, to commission it into His Majesty’s Royal Navy. And its commander was the youngest on the deck, Gray Lady Marianne Denise Canterbury.

Dreadnought was the vessel chosen for King Edward VII's world cruise in 1910, but while anchored off the coast of Abyssinia a group of men disguised as royals boarded the ship and took the British royal family hostage. Edward's daughters Alice and Amelia were spared when Marianne hid them in the closet of her stateroom, while Edward and his pregnant wife Princess Victoria III were killed alongside a number of their attendants and Dreadnought's First Officer, Tobias A. Johnson, Jr. This dealt a serious blow to morale back home, and some feared Dreadnought was now cursed. In the Battle of Jutland, during World War One, the battleship did not see combat. She was instead at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, undergoing a refit. Here, in what is known today as the Titanic Quarter, Marianne met a strapping young bartender named Harold Flaherty at his late grandfather's tavern, "Lager by the Lough". In August the pair had married, and by December that same year a daughter was on the way. Heather Samantha Canterbury - the next Duchess of Warwickshire - was born on Valentine's Day 1917, in Harry's home close by the tavern. Victoria paid a visit the following April, and took great pride in getting to meet her new great-granddaughter for the first time.

Dreadnought only had one combat victory in her long and idyllic career, ramming and sinking SM U-29 on March 18, 1915.

In 1919 Dreadnought was reduced to reserve duty as bigger and better battleships were built, many of which shared elements of her design and took her name as that of their generation. On May 9, 1921, the "fear nothing" battleship was sold to Thos. W. Ward for 36,000-40,000 pounds. Upon arrival at Inverkeithing on January 2, 1923 (two years after Heather's battlecruiser "Hood" was completed), the titanic steel battleship was cut up for scrap.

One would think this spelled the end for Marianne as a woman of the sea, but after a second World War came and went a group of preservationists visited Marianne at her home in Warwick, England. Without her knowing so, the group had plans to build a replica of the mighty vessel she commanded, as part of the Imperial War Museum's roster of naval attractions. Isabelle Flanagan, Marianne's niece and commander of the light cruiser "Belfast", was preserved as a static attraction on the River Thames near London Bridge for this same group. However, they didn't plan on Marianne becoming a display piece; rather, they wanted to build a working replica of Dreadnought as she was in 1906. In June of 1974, that's exactly what happened. Poring over the numerous documents detailing how the ship was built, the team near Portsmouth erected a full welded-steel hull by November 1976. The guns and superstructure were completed by January the next year, and new oil-burning boilers and steam turbines were installed in the following months. In May 1978 the new HMS Dreadnought was finished. While her gun barrels were installed in the ship's five turrets, the mechanisms for loading and firing them were omitted until the Siren War in 1981, when the RN ordered her for last-defense duty at Scapa Flow. She remained here until war's end in 1989, again having seen no combat, when she made sail for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As of this writing, Marianne lives there today with her grandmother Victoria, her husband Harry and adopted son Shouta.

Description
(PIC IS MY WORK. PLEASE ASK PERMISSION BEFORE USING)

Name: Gray Lady Marianne Denise Canterbury, Second Duchess of Warwickshire
DOB: 10 November 1884

Height: 6’3.5”
Weight: 195lb
Hair: Dark blonde
Eyes: Green

Current Residence: Warwick, England

Branch of Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Rear Admiral
Command: HMS Dreadnought

Personality: A calm woman surging like a fire within, she's not as brash as many of her contemporaries. However, that does not diminish her will to fight even when she's outgunned. Being the representative of a turning point in naval development as a whole and a symbol of Britain's might, there's ample reason this fearless lady is referred to as the "Mother Mary" of modern warships.

Bio: Marianne was born on November 10, 1884 to the Duke of Warwickshire, the iron-hearted William Andrew Canterbury and his wife Cassandra. Though Mary was the younger sister to William’s son Samuel, by grandmother Victoria’s decree Marianne was next in line for the duchy. As such, the young lady’s upbringing was toward becoming a high-standing woman of the Royal Court. However, inspired by grandmother’s stories Mary’s desires turned for exploring the world’s great expanses of ocean. Days of training to behave properly before the empire’s sovereign were punctuated with long nights of studying various journeys of sailors braving nigh-impossible odds, of monsters terrifying beyond imagination, and of treasures greater than the wealth of any king alive. Marianne’s want of the sea grew with the passing years, and she longed for the chance to escape her stifling lifestyle. But little would she know, that chance would come sooner than she expected.

February 10, 1906.

While on holiday with her father in HM Dockyard, Portsmouth, a great gray hulk of steel towered over Marianne. Its deep crimson belly was the only color on the whole thing, which looked completely foreign to the ships she’d seen in her books. In stark contrast with the wooden sailing ships she read about, this steel behemoth was sleek, strong, and fearsome. While her father was occupied with talking to the shipyard manager and several other important-looking men, she approached the steel hull and ran her hand along its cold, smooth surfaces. Rivets bumped up against her fingertips at regular intervals, each one with its own mark of the hammer that drove it in. The sheer magnitude of its size fascinated her, what a wondrous dream it would be to command such a vessel.
As she strode towards the ship’s peak, a shout rang up. The shoring timbers holding the beast were knocked away in unison and it sat motionless on soap- and tallow-slathered wooden blocks. A large glass bottle shattered against the bow, showering the hapless lady in wine. The hull began sliding backward on its own, straight for the waters of Hampshire. With a great heaving roar it slid off the way and rocked on its waves before settling level. Heavy chains snaked into the water behind the hull, dragging it to a standstill. The world’s first modern battleship, newly christened and ready for fitting-out, had been launched. Its name was “Dreadnought”.

William was none too happy his daughter had gotten herself in such a mess just to watch some new hull slide off into the water, but this was a tipping point. He had had enough of Marianne going against him at nearly every turn, ignoring his advice and lessons, and above all refusing his guidance to make her a proper lady. She tried explaining to him that all she wanted was to conquer the sea and have books written about her exploits, that she hated the idea of following a pre-laid path as opposed to charting her own course, as so many others had done already. Angered at Marianne’s supposed disobedience, the father gave her title to Samuel and banned her from the palace’s library - especially the navigation books - at which both Marianne and her grandmother took great offense.

Marianne had a closer connection to Victoria than William, being inspired by the grandmother’s tales of fiery combat against the Continental Navy, and especially the tale of fighting Charlotte “Old Ironsides” Plymouth off the coast of Maine. So, it came as no surprise that Marianne approached her gran to visit the ‘Dreadnought’, in the hope she could become its commander. Having disagreed with her son’s edict against Marianne becoming a seafarer, Victoria took her granddaughter to Portsmouth.

Dreadnought was almost completed when the pair arrived at the fitting-out wharf in November 1906, and were given a tour of the vessel. “Everything is to the modern standard,” their guide said. “All of the vital spaces in this ship have ample protection from anything that can be thrown at it, and without having to sacrifice on integrity, mobility or stability.”
Marianne was more than thrilled to tour the ship, and asked her grandma if they could take the ship for commissioning. The guide chuckled at this and said, “There’s still work left to do lass, but we’re set to bring her out to London for the 2nd of the coming month.”

That day saw the whole Canterbury family sail into London aboard the newest, fastest, and strongest battleship ever built, to commission it into His Majesty’s Royal Navy. And its commander was the youngest on the deck, Gray Lady Marianne Denise Canterbury.

Dreadnought was the vessel chosen for King Edward VII's world cruise in 1910, but while anchored off the coast of Abyssinia a group of men disguised as royals boarded the ship and took the British royal family hostage. Edward's daughters Alice and Amelia were spared when Marianne hid them in the closet of her stateroom, while Edward and his pregnant wife Princess Victoria III were killed alongside a number of their attendants and Dreadnought's First Officer, Tobias A. Johnson, Jr. This dealt a serious blow to morale back home, and some feared Dreadnought was now cursed. In the Battle of Jutland, during World War One, the battleship did not see combat. She was instead at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, undergoing a refit. Here, in what is known today as the Titanic Quarter, Marianne met a strapping young bartender named Harold Flaherty at his late grandfather's tavern, "Lager by the Lough". In August the pair had married, and by December that same year a daughter was on the way. Heather Samantha Canterbury - the next Duchess of Warwickshire - was born on Valentine's Day 1917, in Harry's home close by the tavern. Victoria paid a visit the following April, and took great pride in getting to meet her new great-granddaughter for the first time.

Dreadnought only had one combat victory in her long and idyllic career, ramming and sinking SM U-29 on March 18, 1915.

In 1919 Dreadnought was reduced to reserve duty as bigger and better battleships were built, many of which shared elements of her design and took her name as that of their generation. On May 9, 1921, the "fear nothing" battleship was sold to Thos. W. Ward for 36,000-40,000 pounds. Upon arrival at Inverkeithing on January 2, 1923 (two years after Heather's battlecruiser "Hood" was completed), the titanic steel battleship was cut up for scrap.

One would think this spelled the end for Marianne as a woman of the sea, but after a second World War came and went a group of preservationists visited Marianne at her home in Warwick, England. Without her knowing so, the group had plans to build a replica of the mighty vessel she commanded, as part of the Imperial War Museum's roster of naval attractions. Isabelle Flanagan, Marianne's niece and commander of the light cruiser "Belfast", was preserved as a static attraction on the River Thames near London Bridge for this same group. However, they didn't plan on Marianne becoming a display piece; rather, they wanted to build a working replica of Dreadnought as she was in 1906. In June of 1974, that's exactly what happened. Poring over the numerous documents detailing how the ship was built, the team near Portsmouth erected a full welded-steel hull by November 1976. The guns and superstructure were completed by January the next year, and new oil-burning boilers and steam turbines were installed in the following months. In May 1978 the new HMS Dreadnought was finished. While her gun barrels were installed in the ship's five turrets, the mechanisms for loading and firing them were omitted until the Siren War in 1981, when the RN ordered her for last-defense duty at Scapa Flow. She remained here until war's end in 1989, again having seen no combat, when she made sail for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As of this writing, Marianne lives there today with her grandmother Victoria, her husband Harry and adopted son Shouta.